Marcel Griesemer
Exponential Decay and Ionization Thresholds in Non-Relativistic
Quantum Electrodynamics
(270K, Postscript)
ABSTRACT. Spatial localization for quantum mechanical particles (electrons)
interacting with quantized radiation (photons) is studied at
energies below the ionization threshold. We give two definitions
of the ionization threshold. One in terms of minimal energies of
non-localized states, and a second one in terms of spectral data
of cluster Hamiltonians. We show that these definitions agree,
and that all states in the spectral subspace of energies below the
ionization threshold decay exponentially in the particle
coordinates. The latter result is derived from a new, general
result on exponential decay tailored to fit our problem, but
applicable to many non-relativistic quantum systems outside
quantum electrodynamics as well.